Interlude 7
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Word of Orphelia’s brilliant talent quickly reaches the nation.
The country will not leave her be.
Lande understands that those with talent are a national resource.
Then one day, a knight dispatched from the nation visits Orphelia’s home.
The ostensible purpose is for him to see the girl with his own eyes and consider how to respond based on what he finds.
He crosses swords with the girl, and the result is a hard-fought victory for the knight.
But it is an abnormal result.
The knight’s strength was such that he had risen to become a leader in the Royal Knights before becoming an instructor at the nation’s premier sword academy.
Seeing their daughter exchange blows with the knight sent by the nation, Orphelia’s parents realize their child possesses extraordinary talent with the sword. They clasp hands and jump for joy.
However, as they hear about how her opponent was no ordinary knight, how she fought him almost as an equal, and how abnormal this is, their faces gradually turn pale as the gravity of the situation sinks in.
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Afterwards, in the form of national scouting, arrangements are made for Orphelia to enroll in the nation’s sword academy.
Her parents refuse at first, but eventually relent in tears, agreeing to live apart from their 9-year-old daughter, persuaded by lines about how this is for their daughter’s sake and how she will become a renowned swordsman.
「Mommy and Daddy will come visit you together on school holidays,」 her crying mother says.
Orphelia also sobs, clinging tightly to her mother and father. But possessing a far more mature mind than other 10-year-olds, somewhere in her heart she also thinks it can’t be helped.
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School life is boring.
Rules, rules, rules for everything.
It would be fine if it at least benefited her.
Peers to hone her skills against, teachers to entrust her growth to—for her, the academy has neither.
Her classmates are all unimpressive. Her overwhelming strength causes even upperclassmen and teachers to treat her like a pariah. Her isolation at school deepens.
It doesn’t matter. I only need my parents.
That was her true feeling, but it alone was not enough to endure the agonizing boredom of school.
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Around that time, she overhears classmates discussing the accelerated promotion system.
Orphelia thinks this is it.
If she can somehow manage like this, she’ll surely be able to advance faster than scheduled.
Relying on that alone, she trains by herself in loneliness.
That day too, she performs basic exercises alone in an out-of-the-way spot at the academy.
「Well if it ain’t the little lady from the other day!」 a voice calls out from behind her.
Turning around, it’s the knight who had been dispatched to her village to scout her before.
Orphelia locks eyes with him and bows her head.
「What, they shunning you?」 He laughs roughly.
Orphelia thinks he’s a crude, tactless person, just as he looks.
「And you, slacking off work being in a place like this?」
She retorts.
「Hah! Cheeky brat, ain’tcha!」
Without missing a beat, the peeved Orphelia replies,
「Sorry for being a cheeky brat, then!」
Her parents had repeatedly drilled into her since before she could remember, 「If they hit you, hit ’em back!」 and 「If they’re about to hit you, hit ’em first!」
Despite usually being gentle and crying when separated from their child, it was militant yakuza-like teaching from her parents.
Those parental lessons were firmly ingrained in her.
「Tsk! Mouthing off like that, for a brat.」
「And who had a good match against this brat?」
「Aaaargh!」
This became Orphelia’s first meeting with the man she would secretly acknowledge as her master, even if she’d never admit it out loud – Simmons.
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